


Retired Memories

by Tiger_Millionare



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara and Asriel, Chara is a girl in this, Gen, Spoilers, headcanon that flowey still has asriel's memories as a flower, kinda short, otherwise this won't make much sense, please don't read unless you've played the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:18:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5136122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_Millionare/pseuds/Tiger_Millionare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS* please don't read unless you've completed the game.</p>
<p>Asriel thinks back to the day he first met Chara, and comes to the realization that if the opportunity presents itself, his friend may leave the Underground and him with it. Asriel relates his worries to his human friend. The whole event is seen through the memories of a certain flower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retired Memories

**Author's Note:**

> **THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS**
> 
> Please don't read unless you have completed the game, or this won't make much sense.

Asriel closed his eyes lightly, a small smile tugging at his lips. Dappled sunlight enveloped his face, warming his eyelids with calming fingers that radiated heat. Despite being so far underground, a light breeze blew gently around him; filling the cavern with the sound of moving air. It tugged at the sleeves of his striped shirt, ruffling the fur on his head and the back of his neck.

The feeling was pleasant, almost as if the very air itself was rushing up to hug him. The nostrils on his short snout twitched, intaking the refreshing odor of soil and of the ruins behind him. Asriel's smile widened to a peaceful half-grin, and his ears twitched slightly in comfortable pleasure.

He loved spending his afternoons here; back to the grandeurous caverns of the ruins and face turned towards the only source of natural sunlight in the entirety of the Underground. Though it came from an admittedly small hole in the side of Mt. Ebott almost 500 ft. above him, rays of warm light somehow managed to worm their way through the crack and onto the uneven ground below.

The fissure in the ceiling always emitted the most light around three or so, when the sun shone at just the right angle to directly bleed through the crevice in the mountain, creating a small patch of ground about five foot in diameter. Asriel always liked to sit in the middle of the sunny spot, greedily soaking in as much of the soothing waves as possible.

He'd stumbled upon the haven by chance one day while exploring the ruins; a small opening that broke from the rocky floors that occupied most of the Underground into soft soil dotted with tufts of grass. The whole area was filled with brilliant light and the smell of rich earth.

He'd immediately claimed the clearing as his secret spot; his own hidden retreat no one else knew about.

He'd spent countless days here; lounging, playing on the rocks that lined the steeply inclined walls, and drawing pictures in the dirt. The area resonated a certain feeling of safety, comfort, and a bright curiosity that surfaced whenever his gaze would turn to the small hole far above him. Curiosity of the outer world. What it was like. What kind of humans lived up there (heck, what a human  _looked_ like for that matter, as he'd never seen one before). What it felt like to always be in the presence of the sun.

Needless to say, the clearing held a great deal of sentiment for the young monster.

Not to mention, it had been where he'd first met Chara.

Memories of the collapsed and mangled form of the human flashed behind his closed lids, the events of the day replaying itself like a movie in his head. Of running to the clearing in a fit of anger and desperation, harsh words still stinging his ears and tongue when his mother had confronted him about his increasingly frequent absences. Of him refusing to tell her where he was going or about his special clearing. Of raised voices and of him running from the house with tears streaming down his face. Of being too distracted to note the oddly solemn atmosphere of the ruins until he was right in front of the clearing.

Of spotting the hurt and crumpled human, heaving weak cries for help. At least he assumed it to be a human, as they had fallen down from the outer world. Of half-dragging half-carrying the limp creature back to his home. Arriving at his parents' door with tears streaking his face and a plea to help the human on his lips.

Asriel lifted a single lid now to peer at the girl in question, who was sitting tranquilly beside him. Chara's eyes were set above her, head tilted up to face the sun high above. Her lips were twisted in a thoughtful line, eyes misty with what appeared to be remembrance. A cloud of worry hovered over Asriel's thoughts, and he shifted his weight uncertainly between the hands he was leaning back on.

Sitting forward some, he drew his hands together in his lap; casting a worried glance at Chara. Small, rounded claws scratched anxiously at the ground in front of his feet. Equally dull fang-like teeth bit lightly on his bottom lip; not hard enough to draw blood but enough to cause Asriel to cringe in pain slightly.

"...Chara?" he asked slowly, trying to mask his concern from his tone. The human girl blinked sleepily, turning her gaze somberly onto his after a beat. Though it was faint, Asriel could detect a small sliver of longing in her normally bright orbs. "Mmhmm?" she hummed thoughtfully, drawing her legs out from under her and splaying them onto the dirt. Patches of sunlight dappled the bare skin of her legs and cuffs of her shorts.

"Are you..." Asriel's eyes darted to the ground, the boy suddenly unable to meet Chara's gaze. "Are you happy here?" he drew out at last, sucking in a tight breath at the last word.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chara give him an odd look. "I suppose so. Why wouldn't I be?" she said without hesitation. Asriel let out a slow breath, trying to keep his tone casual, "I dunno, I mean...do you ever, you know, miss the outside world?"

Chara paused, her expression hardening some as she was seemingly frozen by the odd question. Taking a deep, almost shaky breath, she attempted to release some of the tension in her shoulders that had formed at Asriel's words. Training her eyes on a particularly interesting clump of grass near her left knee, she gave a simple shrug. "I suppose so, sometimes. Like I...I miss the sun, the stars...all the trees and flowers. That sort of stuff," Chara glanced up quickly to find an almost horrified expression painted across Asriel's face, subdued tears threatening to break free. It looked like he was trying to hide the obvious hurt he felt at the answer, but wasn't doing a very good job of it.

His face was torn, as if he expected Chara to blip away any second, never to return to the world below again.

"B-but, I like it down here better," she continued hurriedly, not liking the pang of guilt Asriel's reaction sent through her, "I mean, I do miss a few things. But up there, it could get pretty horrible. Nobody cares about anyone but themselves, and there aren't many nice people," Chara's expression twisted into one of almost pure loathing, a glimmer of dark remembrance in her eyes. "Down here, though," Chara's hard expression melted into an almost adoring one, "Everyone's like one big family. Always helping each other, always looking out for one another.

"And besides...you're down here. And so are Toriel, and Asgore, and everyone else."

An oppressive silence settled in the air as Chara trailed off, returning her eyes briefly to Asriel's tense form. His head was tilted in such a way that Chara couldn't easily make out his expression. The only thing she could see was the outline of his lips, which were twisted into a light pout. She opened her mouth to say something, anything else, just to get rid of that stupid frown.

But the words caught on her tongue as a pair of sleeved arms wrapped their way around her shoulders. The human squirmed a bit uncomfortably at the sudden contact, but she finally sighed and forced herself to somewhat relax into the gesture.

"Promise you'll never leave. Okay?" Asriel said softly, voice muffled by Chara's shirt. The fabric felt wet, but Asriel had buried his head so far into Chara's shoulder that she couldn't see his face to tell if he was crying or not.

It was a weird question to say the least. Leave? Even if she wanted to, which she vehemently  _didn't,_ was it even possible for one single human soul to pass through the barrier? Surely Asriel must know this. Yet the question still hung heavy in the air.

Chara slowly dipped her head in a confirmative nod. "Sure. I mean, how could I leave my best friend?" she replied simply, wrapping one arm a bit awkwardly around Asriel's now shuddering form.

She felt the boy release a relieved sigh against her side, and her unsure grip tightened slightly around the other's form.

The two sat huddled together as the dim rays of light slowly shifted into the soft hues of twilight, before completely slipping away and bathing the cavern in an empty darkness.

* * *

 

The small flower shook his head violently in an attempt to dispel the odd daydream; bright yellow petals fluttering around his face as it did so. These odd lapses in concentration had been occurring with alarming frequency lately, and they'd managed to spark something akin to worry in the plant. But as with everything that incited some form of weakness, the creature pushed the sentiment to the back of his mind.

Those weren't his memories, not  _really_. Maybe a weaker, worthless  _version_ of him from a past life, but not actually  _him_. Though for some reason, this Chara character seemed to resonate somewhere in his soulless core, sending resounding sparks of what could only be described as longing through his body. For some reason, this human child was oddly important to him in a way that shouldn't be possible without a proper soul. Maybe it was the fact that she had once been a part of the creature that had eventually formed him, or maybe it was something more that the flower couldn't quite put his petal on.

But these thoughts, these  _memories_  certainly weren't helping banish the feeling. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Though, it didn't really matter now anyway. Chara was dead, long gone. Her very soul used to create the flower he now inhabited.

The creature jerked up as a sudden large crashing sound echoed through the cavern, interrupting his thoughts. The flower to quickly bolted underground and out of sight of whatever had caused such an uproarious noise. It seemed to have come from the direction of the very clearing he'd once so dearly loved. Probably just another human, another lost soul that would inevitably find their way to Asgore where their life would be ended and their soul stored for future use. Nothing too unusual, really.

The small plant lifted its head slightly at the sound of approaching footsteps bouncing off the walls. His eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of an all too familiar figure clad in shorts and a striped pink and purple shirt. Fluffy strands of hair billowed around their face as they walked in a way that sparked memories of another child much like this one.

A human.

Chara.

But not Chara. Alike in almost every physical aspect, yet not the same human who'd fallen down here so long ago.

Not his Chara.

But  _a_ Chara.

But that was close enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> A small drabble of what Asriel and Chara's relationship might have been like.
> 
> I like the headcanon that Flowey still has Asriel's memories and is sometimes "plagued" by flashbacks. And that Chara actually had something of a soft-spot for Asriel despite her incredibly dark nature.
> 
> Kind of want to turn this into a chapter story about Chara and Asriel's relationship told through Flowey's memories.


End file.
